Prime's Champion
by Arisentactica
Summary: When a wave of cybermatter is unleashed during the Omega Lock's destruction and Jack, Miko, and Raf are cyberformed, what will happen? Will they be captured by the Decepticons or will the Autobots keep them safe? HIATUS!
1. Another Transformation

_**Chapter 1: Another Transformation**_

 **A/N: Hello peoples of Fanfiction! Kinda a more mature Transformers fanfic that has been picking at my brain for a bit. We'll see what happens in** _ **Prime's Champion**_ **!**

 **Transformer Terminology (won't use all of these in the chapter but it's useful reference):**

 **Frame/Chassis = body**

 **Strut = arm**

 **Servo = hand**

 **Digit = finger**

 **Pede = foot**

 **Optics = eyes**

 **Faceplate = face**

 **Denta = teeth**

 **Femme = female/woman**

 **Mech = male/man**

 **Online = alive**

 **Offline = dead**

* * *

 _Location: Sea of Rust, Cybertron_

 _Date: Unknown_

"BEHOLD! THE AGE OF THE DECEPTICONS!" Megatron bellowed for all to hear.

He then faced Optimus and grinned evilly, before turning to the Omega Lock and activating it. A blue beam of pure cybermatter shot from the Omega Lock, making its way to the ruined building of the Iacon Hall of Records, the "city hall" of the capital of the Autobots during the war and vault of artifacts of the ancients, including the original Thirteen Primes, and weapons of mass destruction made by the Decepticons that were either stolen during stealth operations or found on battlefields after the battles had taken place.

Autobots, Humans, and Decepticons alike watched in awe as the building that was once a pride of Cybertron that was now surrounded by debris and was in shambles barely standing, was repaired and looked like it was brand new.

"By the Allspark!" Optimus Prime breathed

"Whoa!" Miko and Raf said, awed by the formerly ruined Hall of Records shining like a beacon of a new age for Cybertron.

"Instant home makeover." Miko added.

"Shiny." Knockout said.

A moment of silence ensued, all present either in awe of the Omega Lock's power or horrified that such power is in the hands of Megatron.

"You have what you want, Megatron." Optimus said, breaking the now tense silence permeating the area, "This conflict is between Autobots and Decepticons. Allow me to return the humans to Earth."

"Oh, I wouldn't recommend it." Megatron replied over his shoulder before turning to face his arch-enemy, who narrowed his eyes. "They'll be far safer here." He then looked at Starscream, "Is the Spacebridge locked on target?" he asked.

"Per your instructions Lord Megatron." Starscream said, bowing to the leader of the Decepticons.

"Excellent." Megatron said turning to the Autobots, "Why rule one world when I can rule _two_?"

A spacebridge portal then opened up directly above the Omega Lock, humming and spinning with green and white energy. Megatron turned back to the Omega Lock and activated it, causing a massive beam, encompassing nearly the entirety of the circle of cybermatter, to launch through the portal, coming out through the Spacebridge in high orbit of Earth, pointed directly at the planet.

"No." Optimus said in a defeated tone, knowing that neither he or the Autobots could do do anything to stop the beam without risking Earth and its people by trying to wrestle control of the Omega Lock from the Decepticons in the process.

"If the Omega Lock can restore Cybertron, it'll do the same to Earth, right?" Miko asked hopefully.

"No." Optimus answered, looking at Miko, "It will cyber-form your planet in favor of its new matrix, destroying all indigenous life in the process."

Miko's face took on a horrified expression, the reality of their situation hitting her like a wrecking ball.

"Such raw power!" Megatron exclaimed, bringing everyone's attention to him. He then looked at Optimus. "What should I call my new domain? 'New Kaon'? Or perhaps 'Gilded Earth'?"

Optimus's optics widened before looking at his human allies.

"No!" Jack yelled, pounding the glass pod that he was in.

"Leave our planet alone!" Miko yelled, but the only answer they received was evil, mocking laughter from Megatron, Knockout, and Starscream.

Optimus looked back at the Decepticons before narrowing his optics in determination. He had to save the Earth and its people, no matter the cost. Optimus suddenly transformed his hand into his sword and swung it at the nearest Vehicon trooper, sending it flying into Knockout, who was knocked off his pedes from the force and weight of the Vehicon's unexpected flight. Optimus ran over to the Star Saber, yanking it out of the ground and swinging it at the three Vehicons who chased him, knocking them back and offlining them from the energy wave created by his swing. He charged straight towards the Omega Lock control panel. Megatron drew the Dark Star Saber from his back and charged the Prime, locking blades with his old enemy before Optimus broke the lock and cut off the stolen arm of Liege Maximo that Megatron attached to himself to use relics of the Primes.

Optimus kept running as if he never stopped to engage Megatron, deflecting energon blasts fired by the Vehicons and narrowly dodging the rocket sent by Starscream before using the small Seeker to launch himself in the air, bringing the Star Saber down with a yell, destroying the control panel, creating a massive explosion and wave of cybermatter that encompassed miles of desolate landscape.

Unprepared for the sudden explosion and shockwave of cybermatter, the Autobots were sent flying, taking the pods that contained their human friends with them. They landed on the hard metal surface of Cybertron, moaning. They got up before looking for Jack, Miko, and Raf. What they found filled Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee with surprise and horror.

The force of the explosion must have broken the glass of the pods of the humans, allowing cybermatter to flood into the pods. Jack, Miko, and Raf were screaming in pain and agony from being transformed into cybertronians by the cybermatter. Blue energy coursed through their bodies, quickly turning their flesh into metal.

After a few moments, the transformations were complete, leaving newly created cybertronians in the place of humans.

|«π»|

 _Jack POV_

I felt like my body was burning up and being turned into something else. The only thing that I can remember was my pod being thrown from Arcee's servos, the glass of my pod breaking, and light blue goop rushing into the hole of my pod, covering me in the process. When the burning lessened, I heard a voice in my head.

" _The heart of a predacon is in your soul Jackson Darby. This shall be what you will become, a bastion of hope and freedom. So commands Primus, creator of the Primes and all Cybertronians._ "

The burning all over my body suddenly turned into a shock of electricity, making me scream, before suddenly vanishing. After it was over, I knew that I had little energy and when the darkness came, I didn't fight it, rather, I let it swallow me into the welcome embrace of rest. But before I completely lost consciousness, I heard another voice, but it was softer and seemed to be motherly.

" _Go into the universe as a new being D_ _urerus, the last of the Cybertronians created by the Thirteen, and protect those who we failed to protect. Help your friends and stop the Chaos Bringer's pawn from succeeding in his conquest."_ It said.

The last thing that I noticed about the voice before I fell into unconsciousness was that the voice was _female_.

|«π»|

As the smoke cleared, the Omega Lock was revealed to be in flaming ruins. The Vehicon troopers were nowhere in sight, blown away by the blast of the Omega Lock's destruction.

"Optimus, do you read?" Ratchet called, unknowingly breaking a somber silence that was created by the actions of a Prime in desperation to save a planet that allowed him and his soldiers to call it "home".

Optimus looked around and saw clean, near brand new landscape where the Sea of Rust was, an area of a planet that was ravaged by eons (thousands if not millions of years) of civil war restored partially by the wave of cybermatter that he unleashed by destroying the Omega Lock. He scanned the area further and saw his Autobots surrounding three unknown cybertronians.

" _The three transformers before you are young and confused brother._ " a soft voice said in Optimus' helm, " _Take care of them, for they were dragged into your war, they did not ask to be apart of it._ "

"Solus Prime." Optimus said in shock, for he had not heard her voice since he was made a Prime after journeying to the core of Cybertron, to Primus himself.

" _Yes brother here I am, one last time. As Primus' last wish before falling into a deep slumber once again, we transformed the three before you so that they could survive the explosion you caused by destroying the Omega Lock. Protect them, for they will be vulnerable when they wake._ "

"I will see them protected Solus, this I swear upon all that I am." Optimus promised.

" _Protect the last of those created by the Primes in this age Brother and w_ _e will speak again Optimus Prime, soon._ " Solus said before fading from his mind.

Optimus looked around again and saw the decepticons stirring. Suddenly remembering Ratchet's call, Optimus activated his comm system.

"Ratchet, please open a Spacebridge and prepare sickbay, we will need it."

He then walked over to Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen, who were studying their former human friends.

"Autobots, I will carry Jack, Bulkhead carry Miko, Bumblebee carry Raf. Arcee, cover us while we make for the Spacebridge." Optimus ordered before walking over to Jack's new form and gently picking it up. Arcee, Bulkhead, 'Bee, and Smokescreen seemed to snap out of a stupor and followed the Prime's orders. After a moment, a Spacebridge portal opened a few meters away.

"Autobots fall back to base." Optimus ordered, "We must make sure our allies will survive this day."

|«π»|

As the Autobots went through the Spacebridge, the decepticons got to their feet, moaning and looking around. Starscream noticed the closing Spacebridge and yelled, "Prime! He will pay for dooming Cybertron to remain a lifeless husk!"

Knockout walked up behind Starscream and said, "I guess we should cancel the 'welcome home' party."

Starscream growled, turned and backhanded Knockout, the force making him slide back a few meters.

"Attend to our master. He requires medical attention." Starscream ordered.

Knockout rushed over to Megatron, who was kneeling in pain. His arm was cut off at the elbow and his stolen hand was still attached to the Dark Star Saber, which was embedded in the now shining ground in the ruins of the Omega Lock.

Suddenly Megatron started laughing. He stood up while laughing, causing Starscream to look at him curiously.

"They can run, but they can never again run home." Megatron said darkly, confusing Starscream and Knockout.

|«π»|

Ratchet shut down the Spacebridge and turned around expecting injured Autobots. What he found however, was Optimus, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee carrying three unknown Cybertronians.

"What happened?" Ratchet demanded, "And who are they?"

He was met by grim faces and silence as the three carrying the unknowns put them in the medical bay.

Arcee walked over to the largest of the three and sat down next to him, eyes filled with worry.

"Somebody say something." Ratchet said, trying to find out what happened.

Bulkhead walked out of the medical bay and stopped in front of Ratchet.

"Optimus… destroyed the Omega Lock." Bulkhead revealed.

"What?!" Ratchet exclaimed, dumbstruck, "You did-"

"What was necessary." Optimus interrupted. "There was no time for another prolonged battle, not with Earth in imminent danger. Though the destruction of the Omega Lock had unforeseen consequences."

"So you destroyed the only device in any universe capable of restoring our home?" Ratchet asked sadly, "Optimus… we needed that."

Smokescreen came up to Ratchet and said, "You weren't there doc, and it's not your place to second guess a battlefield decision."

Ratchet's optics filled with anger. "It most certainly is!" he snapped, surprising Smokescreen and making him recoil a bit. "There had to be another way!" he said looking at Optimus hopefully.

Arcee answered his hidden question. "Right decision or wrong, what's done is done. And now we have another problem on this world. The Cons changed the rules when they brought Jack, Miko and Raf into play." Arcee said gesturing to the three now identified cybertronians.

Ratchet caught on quickly, his eyes widening in surprise. "By the Allspark," he gasped, "they are Jack Miko and Raf?" he asked, stunned. "How?" he demanded.

"When I destroyed the Omega Lock, a wave of pure cybermatter was unleashed following the explosion. Jack, Miko and Raf were captured by the Decepticons and placed in airtight glass pods. They were hostages that the Decepticons used to barter for the Omega Keys. Megatron issued an ultimatum, give him the keys or watch our human friends perish when the pods were opened." Optimus explained.

"We did the trade, only to be surrounded by vehicon troopers from a space bridge portal. Megatron activated the Omega Lock and, after restoring Iacon, turned the Omega Lock on Earth via a space bridge portal, cyberforming the planet." Arcee continued.

"I could not allow Earth to be cyberformed. I utilized the Star Saber to destroy the Omega Lock, causing an explosion to occur that broke the glass of the pods. The explosion was quickly followed by a wave of cybermatter from the Omega Lock, transforming or restoring everything in its path, including the humans. The three you see before us are our former human allies and they require assistance, _your_ assistance old friend."

Ratchet nodded and started making sure that their transformed friends were not in danger.

"Prime!" Agent Flower's voice rang out in the base, "The Pentagon's preparing to go Defcon 1. I need to know what we're dealing with!"

Optimus walked up to the screen, "To what do you refer Agent Fowler?" he asked confused.

"Maybe you should step outside and see for yourselves." Fowler replied before cutting the call.

"Ratchet, make sure our friends are functional. Arcee, assist Ratchet with the children." Optimus ordered before moving for the elevator to the roof of their base. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen followed him, equally confused and curious.

Ratchet sighed, "How did the children end up in the clutches of the Decepticons Arcee?" he asked the femme beside him.

"I wish I knew Ratchet." Arcee answered shaking her head, "I wish I knew."

|«π»|

When the doors opened to a shadow, Bumblebee knew that something was wrong. He didn't know how bad that something was until he saw a _cybertronian_ fortress in towering over him. He heard a helicopter that he knew was Agent Fowler's and he heard human footsteps, but he didn't take his eyes off of the tower until Optimus broke the silence looming over them all.

"Megatron has managed to accomplish the first phase of his cyber-forming of Earth: the construction of his fortress."

"In Jasper, Nevada?" Fowler asked, "I don't get it. I've already had the town evacuated. Why here?"

Bumblebee spoke up, pointing near the new fortress, " _It's the_ Nemesis!" he exclaimed.

Not a moment after he said that, the Decepticon warship came down through the clouds and turned to face the Autobot base.

Optimus' processor ran through countless possibilities before coming to a dark, horrifying truth. "Because the Decepticons have discovered the location of our base." He said grimly.

Not a few moments later, Insecticons and new Decepticon Seekers charge the Autobots. Optimus reacts the quickest, grabbing the Star Saber on his back and swinging it, a massive wave of destructive energy came off the Star Saber, speeding towards the vanguard of Insecticons, who launched first. When the wave met the Insecticons, it was an energon bath. The thick armor of the Insecticons did nothing in the face of the wave. A massive explosion occured along the line of the Insecticons where the wave hit, leaving nothing but smoke and fire in its wake.

When the smoke cleared, all that remained of the vanguard was a few stragglers that were on the corners of the formation. The survivors didn't retreat however, nor did they land on the ground. They charged the Autobots, blasters firing as fast as they can, before landing in front of their enemies. In range of close combat, Optimus deployed a sword from one servo, the other servo putting the Star Saber onto the back of his chassis before shifting into his ion blaster. Bulkhead transformed both his servos, one into his wrecking ball, the other into his heavy blaster. Bumblebee transformed his servos into his dual plasma cannons and Smokescreen transformed his servos into medium energon blasters.

The Insecticons charged at the Autobots recklessly, trying to use their superior numbers to overwhelm the Autobots. At first, it didn't work, but the battle raged longer than expected by Megatron, who was watching intently from the top of the Nemesis, his arm still missing. But then again the Autobots were known for doing the unexpected.

After a few moments of fighting off the assault, the numbers finally beginning to overwhelm the four bots, Optimus ordered, "Autobots! Into the base!"

They fought a fighting retreat and were nearly all on the platform into the base when Bulkhead saw Fowler start up his chopper.

"Fowler! What are you doing?" Bulkhead demanded, stepping onto the platform.

"My job two-ton." Fowler replied, adrenaline getting into his system.

Before Bulkhead could retort, the platform lowered, closing the doors in the process, leaving Fowler to face the Insecticons and Decepticon Seekers alone.

|«π»|

Ratchet and Arcee were barely able to stabilise the trio in stasis when Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen came back.

"What's happening?" Ratchet demanded.

"The Decepticons are invading Jasper. They appear to have found the location of our base." Optimus replied.

"And Fowler thinks that he can hold them off." Bulkhead added sourly, not liking Fowler risking his life on a suicide mission.

Ratchet was about to reply when Fowler's voice cut in. "Prime! Reinforcements just arrived!"

Optimus shook his head before replying. "Agent Fowler, your military cannot hold off the-"

"Didn't think I was gonna let Team Prime have all the fun did you?" a familiar voice called, interrupting Optimus.

"It's Jackie!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

"Wheeljack? But how-" Ratchet asked, before being cut off by Wheeljack, who understood the question before he finished.

"Picked up a strange energy surge. Hope you don't mind the company."

Ratchet blinked, caught off guard. "No. It's just that after everything, well..."

"Same team Doc. Always will be." Wheeljack replied.

"Thank you for the help Wheeljack." Optimus said gratefully.

"No big deal Optimus," Wheeljack dismissed, "This is more fun than scouting the planet out anyway. I'll be here until I'm shot down or you're outta here."

Wheeljack then cut the connection to focus on the battle, leaving Team Prime to figure out what they were going to do next.

"Autobots, we must evacuate the base if we are to survive. Arcee, Smokescreen, take Jack. Bulkhead, take Miko. Bumblebee will take Raf, with Ratchet accompanying them." Optimus ordered.

"What about you Optimus?" Ratchet asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

"I will stay behind and ensure that the Decepticons do not follow." Optimus replied, his tone leaving no room for argument.

"I'll man the Spacebridge, split us up a fair amount." Ratchet murmured as the bots complied with their orders.

The three 'bots walker into the medical area slowly, knowing that they

Bulkhead picked Miko up as carefully as he could, being the most clumsy of the Autobots, that was saying something, and walked over to Ratchet. Ratchet put in the coordinates and looked at Bulkhead before nodding once.

"See you soon Jackie, I got a surprise for you." Bulkhead said before walking through the bridge.

"See you soon Bulk!" Wheeljack replied, but his voice was strained, probably from the battle.

Bumblebee picked Raf up into his arms as if he were a fragile Protoform (meaning _very_ carefully) and walked over to Ratchet and Optimus. Ratchet randomized the coordinates and put his servo out to Optimus, who grasped it with his own.

"I never thought it would end like this." Ratchet said sadly, "Until we meet again Optimus."

"Until we meet again old friend." Optimus replied before looking at Bumblebee and Raf in his arms.

"Take care of him Bumblebee." he rumbled, knowing that he probably wouldn't see them again.

Bumblebee nodded, " _He'll be safe Optimus, I swear it upon my own spark_." he said in beeps and whirs.

Together with Ratchet, they walked through the bridge, never looking back. If they did, they'd see something that Ratchet would _definitely_ want to see.

Smokescreen carefully hefted Jack over his shoulder, knowing that he couldn't run carrying him "bridal style" as the humans called it. Arcee made sure that he had a good grip on her partner before nodding slightly. They made their way over to Optimus, who randomized the coordinates, which would take them somewhere in the plains of Montana, and activated the Spacebridge. Optimus walked over to Smokescreen and opened a hidden compartment in his frame. He reached in and took out the Key to Vector Sigma, glowing a bright white instead of light blue. He looked over Jack before pressing on a part of his frame, revealing a similar compartment to Optimus' before putting the key into it.

"Arcee." Optimus called, bringing the femme's attention to him. He kneeled down to her level and gestured her over. Curious, she walked over with a questioning look on her faceplate.

"Did you see a symbol on Jack's strut?" he asked.

Arcee shook her head no and glanced a Jack's strut, seeing the symbol, before looking at Optimus curiously.

Optimus closed his optics briefly before speaking, "That symbol is that of Onyx Prime's, meaning that he was blessed by Onyx Prime, the creator of the Predacons. The Key will activate the blessing when he is ready, or if it is an emergency, but he must keep it with him. It is something that cannot fall into Megatron's servos."

"I understand Optimus, and I'll keep this to myself for now. No one else needs to know about it." Arcee said seriously, having an idea of the consequences of the Key being found by the Decepticons.

Optimus nodded and activated the Spacebridge one last time, randomizing the coordinates so that they would be seperate from the others, before gesturing for them to go through the portal. They did as he asked, leaving him all alone in the base.

Once they were through, he grabbed the Star Saber off of his back, activating it which created a bright blue glow and cosmic hum, and brought it up to destroy the bridge controls. He swung without a moment's hesitation, right as the base exploded, coming down right on top of him.

|«π»|

Megatron was proud of his eyes and ears, also known as Soundwave, for finding the Autobot base. He could finally destroy the consistent thorns in his side after years of trying after being on this planet. His plan was simple, drive the Autobots into their base and destroy the base, with them in it, with the _Nemesis_. What he didn't really account for was that Wrecker pest Wheeljack to arrive with his ship. Thankfully, for once, Starscream was useful and shot him down. His frame would be recovered later, and if he was still online it would be a bonus as he could be interrogated for any useful information.

His ship moved over the Autobot base, a weapon deploying from its underside as it did. This weapon was the main weapon of the _Nemesis_ , the pinnacle of Decepticon engineering to make it so small. This weapon was made to be a destroyer of fortresses, and when it fired it lived up to that reputation, completely leveling the Autobots base.

Megatron smiled victoriously. His bitter enemies, the Autobots, were no more.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I thought that this would be a good place to end it. This was an idea of mine that has been taking up my time along with getting another chapter of a story on Hunter Dracon's profile called "** _ **Ars Nova: Lesson of Free Will**_ " **. The next update will be awhile before it come due to school starting back up after the holidays.**


	2. Strange Changes

**A/N: Welcome to chapter 2 of "** _ **Prime's Champion**_ " **! Here it is after all this time! The kid's descriptions will be in this chapter for those of you that are curious as to what they look like. For body types (not the same coloring or vehicle mode) for them, look up "Transformers Universe wiki" and once on the wiki go down to "Featured Characters" Swagger for Jack (for now anyway), Bumblebee for Raf (not the TF: Prime Bumblebee), and Catapult for Miko.**

 **For those who took issue with the lack of reaction to Jack, Miko, and Raf's changes, here is where you'll find them. The reason that I didn't write any reactions is because the bots where overcome with shock from the Omega Lock's destruction and their charges' changes to have a reaction. Add on top of all that the battle and trying to keep them online, along with the evacuation of the base, it was a bit to much for them to do anything like react or try to process what happened.**

* * *

 **Responses to guest reviews:**

 **Guest #1: the reason that I choose Onyx Prime was because he is different from the other Primes and there isn't one like Optimus among the others. I debated between Onyx and Prima but choose Onyx because of what his blessing, if you want to call it that, will do for Jack later. The blessing doesn't have anything to do with matching personality really, it's just something that I wanted to be different instead of "Jack gets to be like Optimus! YAY!" That's not very creative and it would hamper what I think would be a good idea overall.**

 **Rex Vong Thrawn: Thank you for the support! I hope that this story doesn't disappoint you as we go along. Also yes that was a bit funny but *I kluk my tongue in a chastising manner* we don't need to guilt trip Ratchet now do we?**

 **Guest #2: Thank you! As far as Jack leading the Predacons, it's something that I'll look into but no promises. Thanks for the idea though.**

 **(No the story picture is not what Jack will look like)**

* * *

 **Transformer Terminology (won't use all of these in the chapter but it's useful reference):**

 **Frame/Chassis = body**

 **Strut = arm**

 **Servo = hand**

 **Digit = finger**

 **Pede = leg/foot**

 **Optics = eyes**

 **Faceplate = face**

 **Denta = teeth**

 **Femme = female/woman**

 **Mech = male/man**

 **Online = alive**

 **Offline = dead**

 **Stasis = deep sleep/coma**

 **Recharge = sleep**

 **Stasis lock = forced coma**

 **Carrier = mother**

 **Sire = father**

 **Grandcarrier/sire = grandmother/father**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, that honor goes to Hasbro**

* * *

 _Location: Lake Mason National Wildlife Refuge, Montana_

Smokescreen and Arcee came through the groundbridge in the middle of a field. Arcee looked around and spotted a road, but no signs of humans. She vented slightly, relieved that they didn't get bridged to a major city while not in their vehicle forms, though Smokescreen would have to obtain a new vehicle form. She looked over to Smokescreen and saw that he was setting Jack down as carefully as he could, no doubt warned by Ratchet to be careful with him. As she walked over, she was finally able to get a good look at him.

He was mainly Black and Silver in color, with highlights of dark blue here and there. He was taller than Smokescreen, nearly 26 feet tall by human standards. He already had armour, which was thicker than a normal mech's armour, and through a quick scan of his struts she saw that he was armed as well. _How is he armed?_ Arcee thought to herself, _Any Cybertronian has to have their weapons built into themselves. They aren't born with them._ She shook her helm and continued her examination. The sides of his helm held the same symbol that was on his strut and his helm resembled Optimus's in shape and color. His helm was mainly a dark blue with black or dark grey faceplates. His faceplates were what surprised her though, they looked like a mix between Megatrons' and Optimus' faceplates.

She was brought out of her musings by the sound of someone going through a bridge. Her optics widened as she whipped around to try to stop Smokescreen, but it was to late, the portal had closed as she was rushing towards it. He had disobeyed Optimus's orders and gone back to base. What was he trying to do? Get himself killed?

Arcee didn't know and didn't have time to ponder due to a faint groan and the sound of a 'bot sitting up. Jack was awake, and he was in for the surprise of his life.

|«π»|

 _Location: Near Kiowa, Colorado_

When Bulkhead emerged from the bridge portal, he accessed his GPS system briefly, finding out that he was in Elbert County Colorado. That was a plus for Bulkhead. He didn't have to go far to stay hidden. He just needed to keep Miko safe. The bridge portal closed behind him and he was left in the wooded area that he found himself in.

Priorities for Bulkhead were: find a location that he and Miko could hide, make sure that Miko was fully functional, find a alt mode for her that didn't stand out too much and screamed "ALIEN ROBOT HERE!", and wait for Wheeljack to arrive.

Bulkhead thought that the first one was the most important, and that's what he started to look for. What many didn't know about the Wrecker was that he was actually pretty smart, it's just that he doesn't use those smarts enough to be considered smart.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Bulkhead walked lightly into the trees, Miko still in his arms, and tried to find a cave where he could fit himself and Miko comfortably.

He looked down at Miko and actually _looked_ instead of glancing during the mad rush to get her and the others to safety.

She was black with pink highlights on her helm that nearly matched her hair. Her frame was lithe and looked like a scout's frame, but he knew that she'd make the most of it to try and become a Wrecker like himself and Wheeljack. Her helm was the unique thing about her, it had spikes coming off the top as if they were her pigtails. In all honesty, they looked like Arachnid's but a bit less pointy and more rounded. Her faceplate made her look almost like Arcee's younger sister, she kinda acted like it to when they were together on patrol or the rare occasional mission, always annoying her and nearly never listening. It made Bulkhead chuckle a bit when he saw it.

Scanning her and downloading her silhouette into his databanks, he looked up again and searched for a suitable cave.

After a few minutes Bulkhead heard a faint moan from his chest, a femme moan. He looked down and saw Miko's optics start to come online.

He really needed to find that cave.

|«π»|

 _Location: 20 miles north of Pecos, Texas_

Ratchet and Bumblebee exited the ground bridge in a field in the middle of nowhere, with no humans or buildings in sight. What field, Bumblebee didn't know, but a quick and secretive look at his GPS told him they were in Texas. Quickly exiting the GPS systems, Bumblebee felt a tap on his shoulder and looked at Ratchet.

"Place Raf on the ground Bumblebee." Ratchet ordered, "I need to wake him from stasis."

Bumblebee nodded and carefully set the small mech on the ground. When Raf was fully on the ground and out of his struts, Bumblebee backed up a bit to let Ratchet scan him and bring him online for the first time.

As Ratchet was doing that, Bumblebee started thinking about what they needed to do and how they would do it. He made a list. Find a place to hide that isn't out in the open, find a vehicle mode for Raf, find potential new base sites. He looked back at Raf and was finally able to get a good look at his charge after everything that had happened, he was lightly armoured, was around 18 feet tall, and was orange and white in color. All around, Raf looked like a younger version of Bumblebee, same facial structure and optic size. The only thing that was a bit different was a strange structure that covered his eyes almost like a visor that wasn't activated yet, probably his glasses when 'Bee thought about it, but it was still strange.

He shook his head and focused on what he was thinking of before. The list was a start, but he knew that Ratchet would add onto it when he told him about it. He also needed to find a new paint job for himself. Ratchet was never seen with his so he didn't need to worry about that, but Bumblebee had been, he'd even been seen using it by Megatron, took the Spark Extractor from him with it actually.

He was pulled from his musing when his audio receptors picked up a faint moan. _Raf_ , he thought joyfully, _he's coming online._ He looked at Raf and saw his optics flickering on. Raf was coming online and Bumblebee's job just got harder when he realized that he had to help train him. _Well scrap…_ , Bumblebee thought.

|«π»|

 _Location: Throne level, Darkmount Tower, Jasper, Nevada_

Megatron sat in his new throne on what he called Darkmount. It was a fitting name as the only color in the giant citadel was ret directional lighting and shades of grey on the gigantic fusion cannons below him. He was currently talking to Special Agent William Fowler, the former US government liason to the Autobots, on a comm channel.

"Special Agent Fowler, why are you so distraught? All I have done is what I promised to, make sure Earth is a safe planet from any who threaten it. The Autobots were sadly included in that category. All they wanted was to live like parasites, live under a larger organization that would take them in, and exploit them slowly. What I have done is ensure all humans are free from the lies of the Autobots."

"Fat chance you're speaking anything but bullshit _Lord_ Megatron." Fowler spat, saying lord as if it were the worst insult he could give. "I have personally known the Autobots for years. What you have said is completely a lie. Until next time Your Royal Pain in my ass." Fowler then cut the communication, leaving Megatron furious that such an inferior being, an _insect_ , would dare speak to him that way.

He was somewhat calmed down when Knockout came before him and kneeled. "What would you have me do Lord Megatron?" he asked, still kneeled before him.

"Scour the wreckage of the Omega Lock." Megatron ordered, "Find or salvage everything that you can and bring it back, leave anything that I would deem worthless."

"Of course Lord Megatron." Knockout compliantly while standing.

On his way to assemble a group of Vehicons, he muttered, "Hopefully I can find the Phaseshifter. I loved that thing."

|«π»|

 _Location: Cave system outside Jasper, Nevada_

Smokescreen had found the base to be a flaming wreck. Without the Phashifte, he knew he would have been crushed Everything was either on fire or in piles of debris. Thankfully, however, he found Optimus Prime still online, albeit heavily damaged and in an in & out stasis lock state, what humans would call being knocked unconscious.

He had dragged the titan through the wreckage and stealthily to another outcropping that had a cave system in it that was still near enough to the Decepticon citadel that he could sneak in and steal Energon cubes for himself and Optimus. He was currently sitting near Optimus trying to figure out how to repair him. He never learned anything from Ratchet about medical care so he couldn't do anything there. All he could do was try to get enough energon to kickstart Optimus's self-repair systems into working.

"Oh, what am I going to do Optimus?" Smokescreen asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer.

"The Forge…" a deep baritone voice whispered so softly that he barely heard it.

Smokescreen's helm snapped towards the voice and he was shocked nearly beyond words.

Optics were looking directly into his, _blue_ optics.

"Optimus!" Smokescreen vented softly, "What do you mean?" he asked urgently, knowing that his leader could fall back into stasis at any time.

"You must... find... the Forge. Cybertron's… fate rests… with the Forge." Optimus answered him, trying to stave off stasis so that he could explain his meaning.

"I'll see what I can do Optimus." Smokescreen said standing up. "Sit tight, I'll be back in a bit."

He then left to scout out the Citadel and the Warship to find both some energon and to Forge of Solus Prime.

|«π»|

 _Location: Prison Cell, Darkmount, near Jasper, Nevada_

Wheeljack knew he was in deep scrap when his systems onlined and he was restrained, hanging from the ceiling. He looked around slightly, making sure that he didn't give away that he was online, and found that he was in a cell.

 _Well that's just great,_ Wheeljack thought, _Screamer destroyed my ship and I end up in a stinkin' cell._

He ran a diagnostic and found that his self repair system had been active, _extremely_ active. He was surprised when he found that he was nearly fully functional and hadn't lost any struts or pedes. He continued his diagnostic and found that he was low on energon.

 _Eh I'll steal some later._ Wheeljack decided, shoving that to the back of his processor.

The door to his cell suddenly opened and a con walked in, flanked by two of those fancy new silver seekers that he fought, and blown up (fun times!), earlier, was Starscream. This could be funny.

"Welcome to Darkmount Wrecker." Starscream said almost gleefully, "Are you impressed by it? Perhaps going to beg for mercy before you are thrown in the smelting pit?"

Wheeljack shook his helm in annoyance, knowing that Screamer would be how he always was.

"I think that your new tower is the perfect place for me to pound you into a wall." the Wrecker said tauntingly, knowing that he could make Starscream get mad easily.

His plan worked, sort of. Starscream growled and charged up to him with his sharp digits about to pierce his armor. Soundwave suddenly appeared next to his would-be attacker and grabbed his superior's strut, stopping the small seeker from harming the prisoner. Starscream looked at Soundwave, shocked that he would stop him from harming an Autobot. Soundwave showed a picture of the other Autobots that they hadn't found yet and the seeker nodded. "Yes. Yes we can use him for information." he chuckled evilly, knowing that he could, _would_ , break Wheeljack, it was only a matter of time.

|«π»|

 _Location: 20 miles North of Pecos, Texas_

Ratchet was scanning Raf's frame when he came online, his optics lighting up, a clear cyan/sky blue hue that spoke of his youth and innocence, things that you didn't see when looking at the size and frame of a cybertronian. Raf groaned and put a servo on his helm.

"Easy Rafael, don't sit up to fast. Your body is still waking up." Ratchet said softly, using human terms so that the young mech wouldn't panic.

"Ratchet?" Raf asked, "What happened, how'd we get here?"

" _Long story Raf._ " 'Bee answered, " _Short version is the Cons found the base and we split up to avoid capture._ "

Raf nodded a bit and looked at Ratchet before his faceplates shifting into a curious expression.

"Why do both of you look smaller?" Raf asked, curious if they shrunk or something.

The two older mechs glanced at each other, seemingly having a silent conversation. After a moment, Ratchet groaned, seemingly upset about the outcome of the conversation.

"Raf… look down." Ratchet groaned, still miffed that _he_ , being the Primusdamned medic, had to reveal what happened to him.

Raf looked down at his body and screamed in surprise. He sat up so fast Ratchet put his servos on him gently. He noticed that the youngling was venting heavily, his bottom mouthplate quivering.

Bee noticed immediately and gathered his charge into his struts and softly spoke comforts into Raf's audio receptors. Ratchet just watched the scene in front of him with sad optics. He'd seen far to many scenes like this one, but due to different circumstances.

"Rafael," Ratchet said softly, attracting the former human's attention, "We need to find a vehicle mode for you, and a base after that."

Raf nodded sadly, still shook up about his change. He looked into his guardian's optics, asking a silent question. 'Bee nodded and stood up, picking Raf up as he did. Raf laud his helm against Bee's chassis and closed his optics.

"Tell me when we can look for my alt mode, I need to think." Raf mumbles before turning off his optics and falling into a standby mode unknowingly. Bumblebee looked at Ratchet and tilted his head to the smaller mech in his struts. Ratchet nodded and walked over, gently taking the mechling out of his guardian's hold so that the young yellow and black scout could stand guard for the group with his blasters.

They had a long walk ahead of them.

|«π»|

 _Location: Near Kiowa, Colorado_

Bulkhead was in a cave that he had found, thankfully, before Miko came online fully. He laid her down on the ground and sat down near her but at an angle that he was able to see the cave entrance. Miko was slow to online, but that was normal for her (she always was a heavy sleeper when she was actually tired). Her optics were a unique combination of blue and purple, more purple than Acree's optics, and they were big for a femme her size, but also slanted down at the outer bottom corners. Bulkhead knew that Arcee would either be annoyed or glad that Miko looked so much like her only taller by a bit.

A few minutes later and Mimi's optics stopped flickering and stayed online, she was out of stasis. She groaned and put a servo on her helm, sitting up.

She looked around a bit, trying to figure out where she was.

"Where am I?" She asked out loud, not knowing that her guardian was in the cave with her.

"We're in Colorado Miko." Bulkhead said, revealing his presence.

Miko's helm whipped around in the direction of the voice. "Bulkhead!" she cried, very happy that he was here.

"What a sec, why are you shorter?" Miko asked before looking at her frame. "Why am I covered in metal?" she asked.

 _Oh boy_ , Bulkhead thought

|«π»|

 _Location: Lake Mason National Wildlife Refuge, Montana_

 _Jack POV_

I opened my eyes to see a blue sky with some clouds. I tried to get up but a small hand on my shoulder gently pushed me back down. I looked over and saw that Arcee was the one pushing me back down.

"Hey Arcee, how'd we get here?" I asked, not knowing how we got here.

Arcee vented softly and looked at me. "Jack, what's the last thing that you remember?" she asked softly. Wait a minute, was she nervous about something? Did something happen?

I looked at her curiously, these questions on my mind. "I remember being in a glass pod on Cybertron, right after you traded the Omega Keys for us with the Cons." I said slowly, my memory coming back as if it were all there. "Why?" I asked her curiously.

"Something happened Jack, something that I don't know if you'll like." Arcee said slowly, still nervous about something.

I waited for her to continue but I noticed that she wasn't going to. "What happened Arcee?" I asked seriously, knowing that I don't use that tone very much unless it was necessary.

She was silent for a long moment. "Why don't you take a look at yourself Jack, it'll be easier for me to explain after that." Arcee finally said, hesitating for some reason.

I gave her a flat look but complied anyway. As soon as I looked down, I shot up to my feet-no my _pedes_ -in surprise at what I saw.

|«π»|

 _Third Person POV_

Jack shot up onto his pedes in shock. He was, he was a _transformer_. He looked over himself, noticing the armour on his struts was thicker than Smokescreen's, but thinner than Bulkhead's.

Arcee watched him look over his new frame anxiously, hoping that he wouldn't be upset.

"So… how does it feel?" she asked hesitantly, knowing that he could be _very_ upset that he wasn't human anymore.

Jack looked at her for a moment before walking over and wrapping his now huge struts around her frame, surprising her greatly. _No one_ even _tried_ to hug her before and yet Jack did, and she returned it hesitantly, slowly wrapping her smaller struts around his larger frame.

"Thank you for caring Arcee." Jack said in her audio receptors.

Arcee smiled faintly, glad that he wasn't mad about the change, just surprised. How she knew was a mystery to her, but she was glad that she could read her partner of one year well enough to know his mood.

They released each other and stepped back a step. Jack was still in shock, but it had lessened enough that he could think-no _process_ -straight

"As for your question, it feels strange, being turned into a Cybertronian." Jack said slowly.

Arcee nodded once before asking another question, "How did it feel to change?" she asked, the hesitance still there from earlier.

Jack chuckled humorlessly, "It hurt, oh dear Primus it hurt. It felt like I was being ripped apart all over my body, from the inside."

Arcee shivered a bit, imagining what Jack, Miko and Raf went through. She'd felt something similar when she was an adolescent sparkling when her frame rebuilt itself to what it was now, but at a smaller level.

"How did you get that mark?" she asked suddenly, pointing to the symbol of Onyx Prime.

Jack looked at where she was pointing and was surprised to find a symbol engraved onto his strut.

"I… don't know." he admitted, "Maybe it was from the voices that I heard." he said thoughtfully, trying to figure out how the symbol was engraved on his arm when he didn't know of it.

Arcee nodded before the last sentence sank in. "What voices?" she asked curiously.

Jack rubbed the back of his helm nervously, "I heard a deep, guttural voice as well as a soft femme voice speaking to me after my transformation." Jack explained, "The femme voice called me Durerus, why? I don't know but she sounded like she was a grandmother to me, or in cybertronian terms, 'grandcarrier'."

Arcee was quiet for a while, deep in thought trying to figure out who the femme's voice belonged to. She knew that the mech's voice that Jack described had to be Onyx Prime, as his symbol is on Jack. Another mystery was why the femme called him Durerus. The name meant hardened, tough. Not a name that she would have thought that would describe Jack but the more she thought about it, the more the name made sense. He was hardened by their encounters with Airachnid, MECH, and the Cons and always made it through without much trouble, minus being hunted by the spider-bot during their first encounter. As for the Cons, he stared down Megatron himself and came away without shaking, as far as he told them. The name made _far_ to much sense for Jack and that worried Arcee. The only femme who could watch them as far as Cybertronians went was Solus Prime, the creator of the Star Saber, among other things. But that begged the question, why was _she_ of all the Thirteen interested in Jack? That was a question for Optimus and she was going to ask him as soon as she could.

|«π»|

Location: Darkmount, near Jasper, Nevada

Time: 1 week after destruction of Autobot base

Megatron was sitting in his throne in thought. The base was gone over thoroughly and there was no sign of the Autobots! How had they escaped? What did they have at their base that would allow them to escape with their human pets? Megatron went through his memory files concerning their former base during the Unicron episode and came to an enraging conclusion: the accursed Autobots had used their groundbridge to escape!

Oh if only Optimus Prime had joined the Decepticons, they would be unstoppable. He was truly cunning and crafty when he needed to be.

He was interrupted by a call from Soundwave, telling him that Knockout had returned and would be in the laboratory.

"I will be there soon Soundwave, prepare Knockout for my arrival." Megatron replied to the unspoken question that Soundwave had asked.

He stood up from his throne and walked to the edge of the platform before jumping off and transforming. He flew to the Nemesis launch deck and transformed above it, immediately making his way to the laboratory at a brisk walk.

He arrived a few kliks later, seeing Knockout standing in front of a spacebridge portal. Starscream was off to the side tapping his foot on the floor, impatiently waiting for Megatron to arrive.

"I have a surprise for you Megatron. Something-or rather someone-that we found at the ruins that I believe will be a great addition to our cause." Knockout announced before stepping away from the portal, allowing a large dark purple and black mech with one large blood red optic walk through the portal. He was 26 feet tall by human standards, had thick armor, a small hand and a large cannon attached to his arm.

Shockwave had returned, and all of Megatron's enemies would tremble in fear of what he brought with him.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's chapter 2 of** _ **Prime's Champion**_ **! You might have noticed that I have added some things to chapter 1 as time went on, mainly because I forgot to add crucial elements to the plot in. So Solus Prime will be making appearances of a sort as she was close to nearly all of her brothers, including Optimus when he fought against Unicron with them the first time. I think that she was very caring as I believe that she loved her creations, especially her living creations, who became her children in all respects for a transformer. We'll see how she affects the story later on.**

 **Also to those of you who are going to ask me if I could make this a former human/autobot fic (mainly ArceeXJack or variation thereof), it's not something that I'm comfortable with writing at the moment, still getting into things as I am. Jack and Arcee will have more of a sibling relationship than anything, maybe even develop a sparkmate bond (twin sibling bond!) that signifies how much they care for each other. Bulkhead and Miko would be a bad match even if I tried to do something with them, they're just so oblivious when it comes to that sort of thing and it wouldn't be in character for them (** _ **far**_ **to OOC for that to even be considered in my book).**

 **Don't forget to drop a review or PM me if you have any questions and I will see you in the next chapter!**

 **Arisentactica over and out!**


	3. Predacon's Power

_**Chapter 3: Predacon's Power**_

 **A/N: Welcome back to "** _ **Prime's Champion**_ " **! Things are going to start speeding up starting in this chapter! I've also decided that this story will go on through the time period of** ' _ **Predacons Rising**_ ' **so it'll be a bit longer in terms of number of chapters. How long the chapters are depends on how much I feel needs to go into that specific chapter. This chapter will be a bit longer than the others due to what will happen in the story.**

 **For those of you who were annoyed with the constant jumping between groups and cons. I needed to show the reactions that Jack, Miko, and Raf had to becoming bots. You'll see what alt modes they get in this chapter (no I'm not writing the kids getting them on account that I don't know how transformers activate their alt mode scanners and it would take a bit to long for Miko to do it [she'd get pissed off way to easily] but besides that, I don't feel it's necessary in this story to show them getting their vehicles).**

 **(P.S: Wheeljack escapes Darkmount just like in the show)**

* * *

 **Responses to guest reviews:**

 **Rex Vong Thrawn: This won't be a Arcee/Jack fic as I've said before. Please stop asking for it to be one. I won't be doing a pairing in this fic because I don't feel that it needs one. Thank you for the ideas for Jack's predacon mode if that's what he gets later on, he might, he might not (I haven't decided yet). Thank you for supporting this fic and I hope that you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

 **Transformer Terminology (won't use all of these in the chapter but it's useful reference):**

 **Frame/Chassis = body**

 **Strut = arm**

 **Servo = hand**

 **Digit = finger**

 **Pede = leg/foot**

 **Optics = eyes**

 **Faceplate = face**

 **Denta = teeth**

 **Femme = female/woman**

 **Mech = male/man**

 **Online = alive**

 **Offline = dead**

 **Stasis = deep sleep/coma**

 **Recharge = sleep**

 **Stasis lock = forced coma**

 **Carrier = mother**

 **Sire = father**

 **Grandcarrier/sire = grandmother/father**

 **Aft = rear end/ass/buttocks**

 **Klik = kilometer**

 **Chestplate = chest armor**

* * *

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, that honor goes to Hasbro**_

* * *

 _Location: Throne Chamber, Darkmount, Nevada_

 _Time: 1 week after destruction of Autobot base_

Megatron stood up from his throne and looked up at the creature that Shockwave had brought with him. It was a _massive_ hulk of sharp, thick armor plate. It had two bright yellow optics, a line of small spikes running down its back, just enough to be noticable but still there. The wings that it had encompassed the width of the platform easily.

This beast was a Predacon, and it was fully under Shockwave's control.

"A-a Predacon?!" Starscream squeaked, "But they were extinct! How did you find one that was _online_?!"

"This Predacon was bred in the laboratory and fully under my command." Shockwave revealed.

"The most fearsome hunter to ever exist." Megatron rumbled, still in awe of the mighty beast standing before him, "Give him energon from our prisoner. He will hunt the Autobot. Only this time, he _will_ bring me his helm, unlike _you_ Starscream."

A vehicon soon came with a vial of energon, _Wheeljack's_ energon. He gave it to Shockwave, who presented it to his creation.

The Predacon turned his giant helm to look at the small vial, scanning the energon signature and putting it into his memory banks. It then lifted its helm and flared its wings before roaring into the sky and launching itself into the air, homing in on its prey's signature. It would bring his creator proof of his prey's demise, and hopefully get some energon to fuel itself in the process.

|«π»|

 _Location: Near Van Horn, Texas_

 _Time: 5 days, 4 hours after Raf came online_

Bumblebee, Ratchet and Raf were going west on I-10, on their way to the _Harbinger_ half in New Mexico after discussing where they could go as a temporary base until Optimus could be found. Raf had found a Vehicle that suited him just fine, a white 2018 Lamborghini Huracán with orange accents that was going down State Highway 285 a couple days after Raf had onlined.

They were about 2 hours out from the wreck, but that didn't mean much to Raf, he was running on hope that they could find the others and bring them together to find Optimus, who Raf knew stayed back at base to keep the Cons from following them from asking Ratchet and Bee about what happened to them and why they weren't back at base.

Bumblebee and Ratchet changed their vehicle forms as well so that they wouldn't be easy to spot to the cons. Bumblebee left his Urbana 500 for a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while Ratchet left his ambulance for a 2017 Ford Transit. He wasn't happy about changing into a transport van but knew that he had to do something and he didn't want to be a truck, he was too old for that. Bumblebee also switched his paint job from mainly yellow and black racing stripes to mainly black with yellow racing stripes. Ratchet retained his colors, deciding that he had changed enough with changing his vehicle mode. They would find the _Harbinger_ , and they would try to get Team Prime back together.

|π|

 _Location: Wreck of the_ Harbinger, _New Mexico_

 _Time: 3 hours later_

Raf learned the hard way when Bumblebee said that he knew exactly where the _Harbinger_ was and he led them to where he thought it was, and it _wasn't there_ , they ended up spending an _hour_ trying to find the slagging ship. Moral of the story: never let Bumblebee led you somewhere where everything looks the same. If you do, you'll spend a slagging _hour_ , if not more time, trying to find the damn thing that you're looking for.

Suffice it to say, Raf was annoyed, but his eagerness to find their teammates overshadowed his annoyance. They were in the control center of the _Harbinger_ , trying to get the Groundbridge back online. Thankfully, there was still energon in the ship, no doubt left by Starscream when he was using the wreck, and there was enough to use the groundbridge multiple times.

For Raf, it was only a matter of time before they brought Team Prime back together.

|«π»|

 _Location: Near Kiowa, Colorado_

 _Time: 6 days after Miko came back online_

Bulkhead had his hands full with the new energetic femme known as Miko. As soon as they found her vehicle mode and she scanned it, _that_ was a fun time, she tried to activate all of her weapons systems to see what she had. The older Wrecker had to intervene when she almost shot at a gas station with her blasters, making sure that Miko knew not to use them unless they were training.

Speaking of training, they were in the middle of a spar in their cave, hand-to-hand only, no blasters or melee weapons besides servos and pedes. Miko was improving, that was certain, the only question was how much she was improving. She always tried the unorthodox if charging at her opponent didn't work, usually poorly executed knockoff martial arts moves that she saw on TV shows. Bulkhead was currently putting her on her aft after she opened herself up by trying a 360 spin kick as she called it. He caught the kick easily and pushed her a bit, making her lose her balance and falling over. He walked over to her and helped her back up.

"Miko, how many times have I said don't open yourself up like that? If you were facing an experienced warrior and not a vehicon, you'd be scrap."

Miko vented irritatedly, "How do you always get me on my aft?" she demanded.

Bulkhead looked at her with an optic ridge raised, telling her to figure it out and saying 'really?' at the same time.

Miko looked down, "I just wish that I could get _you_ on your aft just once." she said hopefully.

Her guardian chuckled a bit, "You're making progress Miko, you're _learning_ and lasting longer when we spar because of it." he praised her.

Miko looked back up at him and smiled a bit, happy that he was helping her learn to fight.

Bulkhead backed up and said, "Alright Miko, show me your weapons."

Miko grinned and transformed her servos. One was a blaster that looked like Arcee's, but with one barrel instead of two, it was bigger in size as well. The other servo transformed into a small axe with the blade orange like molten metal, perfect for slicing through the toughest transformers armour.

Before they could begin their spar, they heard a car engine, and it was getting louder.

"Miko stay here." Bulkhead ordered.

"But-" Miko started, before Bulkhead interrupted her

" _Stay here_ Miko. I mean it." he said sternly, not taking no for an answer.

Bulk then bolted from the cave, his heavy energon cannons out and charging, producing a hum that was rising in pitch. He'd protect Miko, even if it cost him his spark.

|«π»|

 _Location: Near Roundup, Montana_

 _Time: 6 days after Jack came online_

Arcee's training was brutal, but effective. She would always push him to the point of exhaustion, but then stop so that he could recharge. Jack had progressed greatly in his skills in combat, but he and Arcee both agreed that he needed to train with someone that was his size, who could take his hits easier. That was another thing that they discovered when they sparred, Jack was _very_ strong for a mech his size. When he scored a solid hit on Arcee, she would go flying back a few meters, leaving a fist sized dent where he hit her.

His ranged weapon was also powerful for his size, he had a weapon that hadn't been seen since the final days of the war on Cybertron: the Path Blaster. It was based on Optimus' Ion Cannons, but fired a powerful blast of energon instead of ionized particles. Jack's blasters seemed to be nearly as powerful as the Last Prime's when used at full power, which he did once. The shot left a crater at least a meter in diameter, stunning Arcee who asked him to test it. It also seemed to be unique among Path Blasters as a shot every 9-10 shots or so would be supercharged, creating a massive explosion. Sadly, they found this out the hard way when they were doing target practice in a junkyard on cars that were already riddled with bullet holes. The shot made the car disintegrate, leaving a noticeable depression in the ground where the car was. They transformed into their alt modes and drove off before the Humans arrived.

His melee weapons were energon swords ( **A/N: think Optimus Prime's from the live action movies)** , coated in molten Energon, able to slice through anything metal or stone given enough time. They were double sided and were more angular than Optimus' Energon used by the blades was recycled after the weapons were retracted, saving him energon and not wasting very much.

They didn't spar with the swords, only using rocks or metal to at least get Jack used to the weight of the swords as they were heavier than his servos. If they did then Arcee would lose her arm blades to the molten energon coating the blades. Jack was trying to figure out how to deactivate the energon coating, leaving only the blades, but he hadn't figured it out.

They were currently driving south on state highway 87, making their way to I-90 to try and make it back to Jasper. Jack's alt mode was a black 2017 Dodge Viper ACR with navy blue and silver accents, which they found on a property that was filled with all kinds of expensive cars, Jack thought he was a collector of rare or unique cars, while Arcee was a blue Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R with pink accents. She changed her alt mode so that she wouldn't be as recognizable to the Cons if there was a Seeker looking for them. Jack had asked why she didn't reverse her colors or change her colors in some way but Arcee flat out refused to do either as she enjoyed her current paint job.

They were in an open stretch of road by themselves when they heard what sounded like a commercial airliner coming up on them. The only problem was that it was _far_ too close to the ground to be an airliner.

Arcee adjusted her mirrors to look behind them and immediately stopped, nearly causing Jack to crash into her if he didn't swerve out from behind her.

Arcee transformed and ran in front of Jack, bringing out her energon blasters and pointing them at the now landing ship.

The ship itself was dark grey, but the thrust from the engines and running lights were blue, meaning that energon was powering the ship. It was massive, equipped with two afterburners, one on either side, with maneuvering thrusters in the middle of the back of the ships.

Jack transformed behind Arcee and transformed his servos, one into his blaster and the other his energon sword, and walked behind her pointing his blaster at the ship.

The ship landed and a few moments later a platform came down from the center of the ship, producing fog as it came down, veiling the transformer that came out of the ship.

They heard the bot's pedes before they saw the outline of the bot. The 'bot was massive, nearly the size of Optimus Prime, but the thing that they could see was the bright blue optics. Arcee saw them first and deactivated her blasters, causing Jack to do the same with his weapons, and transformed them back into their servos.

The bot came out of the fog, revealing a blue and red mech with tall shoulder armour, taller than his helm.

"Ultra Magnus?" Arcee asked hopefully.

"Indeed soldier." the mech, now known as Ultra Magnus, replied.

"H-how did you find your way to Earth?" she asked.

"I was travelling past this system when I detected a strange energy signature. I tracked the signal, leading me to this planet, finding an Autobot signal." he said.

"The Omega Lock's beam," Jack murmured, staring at the new Autobot curiously. "That's how you came here." he said.

His statement brought himself under the mech's gaze, cold and calculating, the gaze of an experienced soldier and commander. Ultra Magnus's optics scanned his body and saw the mark on Jack's strut, but didn't recognize it, much to Arcee's relief.

Arcee didn't want anyone to know about the mark who didn't need to know and said, "Did you find any more Autobot signals?" she asked, bringing his attention back to her.

"While we may no longer be on Cybertron, military protocol remains in effect." Ultra Magnus informed her, traces of coldness seeping into his voice.

Arcee immediately straightened into a crisp military attention stance and said, "Sir."

Jack was confused by why Arcee would be calling Ultra Magnus sir. "Who is he?" he asked Arcee.

She immediately turned around and moved closer to Jack. "Ultra Magnus was Optimus Prime's second in command during the war, very by the book. Just go with it." she whispered.

"Why do I have to?" Jack asked, his optic ridges scrunched together, "I haven't technically joined the Autobots yet and that makes me not under the chain of command until that changes."

Arcee sighed, knowing that he had a point. Instead of responding to that, she just gave him a look that told him not to do or say anything that might offend the Commander of the Autobots.

Jack nodded but Arcee knew that he'd be pushing it if Ultra Magnus offended him. That's just how he was, respecting authority most of the time but asked questions that he felt needed to be asked.

Ultra Magnus raised an optic ridge at the unknown mech in front of him that was talking to the femme soldier.

"Soldier," he called, getting Arcee's attention, "Who is the Neutral?" he asked.

If she were human, Arcee would have flushed in embarrassment, but her optics showed her embarrassment well enough.

"Sir, may I introduce Durerus, a Neutral disguised as a native vehicle when I found him a few cycles ago." Arcee said, lying about when she found him.

Jack knew that that name would come in handy someday, but didn't think that he needed to use it so soon.

"Can he fight?" he asked, gaining a somewhat nervous look from Arcee.

"I've been training him sir, but my lack in size hasn't given him much challenge in terms of strength or durability. I do know however, that his aim is improving and he is a natural with his swords." she informed him, nervous about how he would take it.

The giant Autobot nodded before her last sentence registered in his neural net, "Just a moment soldier, you said 'his aim' and 'his swords'. He is armed?" Ultra Magnus interrogated.

Arcee became even more nervous with that tone, knowing that she'd be in deep scrap if she didn't chose her words carefully. However, before she could speak, her partner spoke up, making her even more nervous that he would slip up and reveal what he is.

"I found an abandoned Decepticon weapons cache and equipped weapons to my liking that I found after escaping from a Decepticon ambush right before Arcee found me." Jack said, hating that he had to lie but knew it was necessary.

Mention of the Decepticons piqued Ultra Magnus' interest. "Decepticons you say? Are they in control of the planet?" he inquired, a plan starting to form in his mind.

Arcee answered him, "Yes sir, the Decepticons are here and they have recently seized control of the planet after destroying our base."

"What do they have for transportation and a base?" Ultra Magnus asked.

"The _Nemesis_ is here, as well as a newly built Decepticon fortress." Arcee answered.

Magnus nodded, the plan taking shape, before asking one more question, "How many Autobots are on the planet?"

Arcee looked down at that, sadness in her optics, "We numbered at six in the base, with one other defending the base while we evacuated."

"What were their designations soldier?" Magnus asked, hoping that one Autobot in particular would be named.

"Bumblebee, myself, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Smokescreen, Ratchet, and Optimus Prime. I however, do not know if he made it out of the base sir." Arcee listed.

Magnus nodded before turning around and moving for his ship. He turned over his shoulder, "Come soldiers, we have more Autobots to find." he said before making his way to his ship.

Arcee and Jack looked at each other hopefully before following the giant mech into his ship.

|«π»|

 _Location: Near Kiowa, Colorado_

 _Time: 6 days after Miko came back online_

Wheeljack was in a good mood. He had escaped from Darkmount, killed a couple Seekers, and was currently making his way to Bulkhead's position. He knew where his old buddy was due to an old Wrecker protocol and frequency that only the Wreckers knew of, not even Soundwave knew of it, and that made it dangerous. He was currently in his vehicle mode driving down a two lane road that was badly paved. If he was Knockout, he would have panicked when he bumped the asphalt, but he wasn't. A bumpy road was nothing compared to the war torn streets and speedways on Cybertron. He sped up to make it to the green Wrecker's position in 2 minutes. He'd be seeing his old dance partner soon, and see what surprise the big lug was talking about was.

|π|

When Wheeljack came around the last corner, he heard a blaster powering down. Did Bulkhead think he was a Con? He was glad that Bulk looked before he shot or he'd be in a bit of trouble.

"Jackie!" Bulkhead exclaimed, running down the hill as Wheeljack transformed. "I knew you'd make it!"

The green bot then crushed the smaller Wrecker in a tight hug, relieved that nothing happened to his old partner.

"Hey Bulk," Wheeljack wheezed, the hug starting to dent his strut's armour. "Could you let me go now? I'd prefer not to have massive dents on my struts."

Bulkhead released him and backed up, looking sheepish. "Sorry, just a bit glad that you're not offline." he explained.

"Eh, not a big deal," Wheeljack dismissed with a wave of his servo, "So what's this surprise that you talked about?" he asked curiously.

Bulkhead seemed to become nervous, "Well… it would probably be easiest if I show you." he said, "Follow me." he turned around and led him inside a cave that he didn't see from the road.

"Miko!" Bulkhead called, "Come on out, it's just Jackie." he said.

What Wheeljack saw nearly fried his logic circuits.

A femme walked out from behind a corner, a black and pink femme that looked like a mix of Airachnid and Arcee, but had the faceplates of Bulkhead's human partner.

"Hey Wheeljack, we Wreckers gotta stick together right?" The femme asked, in the _same voice_ as Miko.

"M-Miko?!" Wheeljack demanded, nearly stunned beyond vocalizing.

Wheeljack spun around to face Bulkhead. "You have some explaining to do Bulk, _now_ , before my logic circuits glitch." he said.

Bulk nodded his helm and started explaining, gesturing to Miko when he needed to.

|π|

"So let me get this straight," Wheeljack said after Bulk finished explaining, "The Omega Lock was cyberforming Earth while in Buckethead's control, Optimus used his fancy saber thingy to destroy it, a 'wave' of pure cybermatter was released and cyberformed Miko and the other two humans. Did I get that right?"

"Yeah Jackie. You hit it right on the center." Bulkhead sighed.

"Well… I think that Miko needs a lesson on how to be a real Wrecker." Wheeljack said, gaining an excited wide-eyed look from the femme. "She also needs a new name, something that suits her new frame." he added thoughtfully, trying to think of a good Wrecker name for Miko.

|«π»|

 _Location: Darkmount, near Jasper, Nevada_

 _Time: 1 day after Shockwave's Return_

Megatron was furious with Starscream for failing to offline the Autobot Wrecker known as Wheeljack.

"How could you let the Autobot escape?! From the _smelting pits_ no less?" Megatron demanded.

Starscream immediately bowed, but had a smug smirk on his faceplate. "I allowed him to escape Master," Megatron became livid and was about to speak, but Starscream finished quickly, "so that we may destroy any other autobots that Wheeljack rendezvous with."

Megatron calmed down some, thinking of the possibilities of Starscream's plan.

"Send two squadrons of your Seekers to eliminate the Autobots that the Wrecker meets with." Megatron ordered, " _Do not_ fail me Starscream."

"I will present you with their sparks and helms Lord Megatron." Starscream promised before bowing once more and leaving to oversee the Autobot's destruction.

|«π»|

 _Location: Cave near Kiowa, Colorado_

 _Time: 6 days, 1 hour after Miko came back online_

"How did you find the tracker?" Mika asked curiously.

"I had only two guards on me when I escaped. Usually I have at least four so I knew something was up. I took a peek under my hood and found it right under my armor." Wheeljack explained, gesturing to his chest plate, which had two lines scratched through the paint to the armor plate beneath.

"So what did you do with the tracker?" Mika asked curiously.

Wheeljack pointed to a log floating down a creek half a klik away. "See that log?" He asked her.

"Yeah," Miko said, not getting it, "Why?"

"That's where I put the tracker." he said simply.

"Soo?" she asked, still not getting it.

Wheeljack vented, annoyed that Miko wasn't getting it.

"It means that the cons will track the log, letting us set a trap for them, which I have." he explained slowly, as if he were talking to a sparkling.

"Here they come." Bulkhead announced.

Sure enough around 12 Seekers were closing on their position, at least that's what the Seekers thought. They transformed and landed as close to the signal as they could. The leader scanned for the signal and traced it to an incoming log in the creek. They closed in, thinking that the Autobot sum was beneath the log. A beeping that was rising in pitch was getting louder as they closed in, confusing the simple minded vehicon Seekers. The leader finally saw what was causing the beeping when he nearly leaned over the log, a grenade, an _active_ grenade.

"Grenade!" he called out, trying to move away as fast as he could. It was too late, a whine originated from the grenade, signalling imminent destruction for all who are in the blast zone. The explosion was bigger than that of a normal grenade. That was due to the modifications of Wheeljack. While he was a grunt first and foremost, he was a _smart_ grunt. He always tweaked his weapons to make them the best that he could, including his grenades.

The blast took out the entire Seeker party, leaving nothing but molten metal and ash.

"Well… that was fun to watch." Wheeljack said after a minute of silence. They decided to stay in sight of the grenade to pick off any survivors, but there weren't any, thankfully. "Now, who wants to hit an energon mine?" he asked his fellow Wreckers.

Miko's optics shined in excitement, her helm nodding as fast as it could.

"But on the way, we'll do some training. Make sure that you're in as good of shape as you can be." Bulkhead said, making Miko groan.

|«π»|

 _Location: Throne Floor, Darkmount, Nevada_

 _Time: 5 minutes after contact lost with Seeker squadrons_

"Starscream!" Megatron bellowed angrily, "I was promised sparks and helms, but I see none, I don't even see survivors from the Seeker squadrons that you sent to apprehend the Wrecker and any Autobot that was near. Why don't I see what you promised me you would have?!"

Starscream was shivering under Megatron's shadow. He knew that if he said the wrong thing, he would get the scrap beat out of him.

"I don't know Lord Megatron, I assume that the Autobot heard the Seekers coming and prepared a welcome for them. The only thing that I heard before the signal was lost was 'Grenade!' so I assume that a grenade was the cause of the loss of the signal. I can only assume that they were offlined when the grenade went off." he explained.

Megatron growled, making Starscream take a step back in fear.

"If you fail me again Starscream, you will be the one who feels my wrath." he said angrily, nearly chipping his denta from gritting them so hard, before stomping away, his pedes echoing away, announcing to everyone that he was coming, and to stay out of his way.

|«π»|

 _Location: Head south on Interstate 25, nearing Monument, Colorado_

 _Time: 7 days, 4 hours after Miko came back online_

Spar was an understatement, near full on bootcamp was what Miko was experiencing between Wheeljack and Bulkhead for the past day. Miko had been drilled by Wheeljack as to how well she could fight and shoot. He was interested in Miko's out of the box moves, which she said she saw on TV, but knew that she would have to refine them so that she wouldn't open herself up when she did them or not use them at all. He had easily knocked her on her aft quite a few times when she tried to surprise him with them. To her credit, she _did_ surprise him, it just wasn't enough to get him staring, curiosity overriding everything else in his processor.

They were currently on the road, on their way to an active Decepticon energon mine. Miko was in a black 2017 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 with pink racing stripes, a car that her and Bulk had found when they were walking around, getting her used to her new body. It took her a _long_ time to get her alt mode scanners to work, Bulkhead was sitting on the ground chuckling to himself. The plan was to sneak in, steal enough to fill their storage tanks, then blow the mine to smithereens. It was a simple plan that would harm the Con's cause, even if it was only temporary, on Earth. Hopefully they'd get it done without any complications.

|π|

 _Location: former Decepticon mine, near Monument, Colorado_

 _Time: 1 week, 6 hours after Miko came back online_

Well, the mine blew up, they just didn't get as much energon as they needed. Thanks to Miko's decision to offline some vehicons, while they were getting the energon mind you, the entire plan went to scrap. They had to race out of the mine and blow it early.

"And why did you want to offline vehicons?" Bulkhead demanded, "Vehicon _miners_ Miko! They weren't trained in combat and Autobots never, _ever_ offline defenseless people, enemies included."

Miko looked at her pedes, shuffling them nervously. "I just wanted to show you guys that I could help you guys fight." Miko murmured.

Wheeljack came up to her and put a servo on her strut. "Look kid, just because you want to prove yourself doesn't mean that we go off mission to prove ourselves, Bulk and I learned that the hard way and it looks like you did to." he said, trying to get her out of her self-deprecating mindset. "But… you did good kid, just don't go off mission and engage the miners, they are the most innocent of all the Cons."

Miko nodded and looked up at Wheeljack, optics showing her relief and gratitude.

The trio was ripped out of their conversation when a loud roar echoed into the valley they were in. they all looked up and saw a massive cybertronian creature flying right at them, an orange glow emanating from its chassis. An opening appeared at the front of the creature's helm, emitting the same glow from it's chassis, only brighter, before a blast of fire spewed out of the hole in its helm.

Wheeljack's optics widened and he moved first, grabbing Miko and throwing her out of the creature's line of fire.

"Bulk move!" Wheeljack yelled as he jumped to cover Miko, who was getting up on her pedes.

Bulkhead was snapped out of his stupor when he heard Wheeljack's yell. He turned to his left and sprinted out of the way of the blast right before it impacted, knocking him off his pedes and flying several meters away. He got back up right as the beast landed, showing its size to the Wreckers.

Bulkhead transformed his servos and started shooting at the beast, trying to find a weak spot. His shots didn't even dent the beast's armor. The beast turned its helm to look at Bulkhead and charged him, causing Bulkhead to jump out of its way.

He barely got to his pedes when he felt a massive, sharp object slash across his chest plate, sending him flying again and denting his armor. Before he could get up however, the beast was on him, orange glow coming out of what he could now see as a jaw like structure.

"Hey ugly, over here!" Wheeljack hollered while firing at it, trying to get it's attention. It worked. The beast got off Bulkhead, allowing him to get to his pedes and start shooting at it as well.

"Where's Miko?!" Bulkhead yelled, hoping that she was safe.

He got his answer when he saw something land on top of the beast, punching its rear chassis and trying to get it to rear up. It was Miko, not using her head _again_. She got her wish as soon the beast reared on its hind pedes and shook her off, making her land with an "Oof!". The beast turned to her and put one of his large pedes on her, pinning her to the ground.

"Get off me scrap for brains!" Miko yelled at it, smacking the pede that was covering her chassis.

The beast seemed to become angered and roared at her before the tube in its helm started glowing again.

"No!" Wheeljack and Bulkhead yelled, shooting it with all they had, but it wouldn't be deterred from offlining Miko.

Right before it spewed its fire, two massive energon blasts hit the beast in its side, the force of the blasts making it lose its balance and slide several meters away from the femme. Bulkhead raced to Miko, getting her on her pedes. They made their way to Wheeljack, who was looking up. Confused, Bulkhead followed where Jackie's optics were locked onto and saw a ship, a dark ship with a blue engine thrust. A ramp was down from the middle of the bottom of the ship and Bulkhead saw a cybertronian looking at the beast that was getting to its pedes.

"LEAVE PREDACON!" the cybertronian bellowed, "RETREAT AND FIGHT ANOTHER DAY!"

The Predacon looked up, zeroing in on the voice and finding a small figure on a platform from the strange flyer. It zoomed in on the figure and saw something that struck a chord within the beast's spark: a symbol that was glowing on the figures strut, the same symbol that was on its own chassis. It roared at the figure, "WHO ARE YOU TO COMMAND ME?!"

"I AM DURERUS! LEAVE OR BE DESTROYED!" it bellowed back, the symbol glowing brighter.

The Predacon thought for a moment, a strange feeling compelling it to obey the mech's command, before replying, "VERY WELL! WE SHALL MEET AGAIN DURERUS AND WHEN WE DO, I WILL RIP YOU APART!"

With that said, it flared it's wings, roared, and took off into the night sky, back to Darkmount, vowing to understand why it felt compelled to follow the strange mech's command.

* * *

 **A/N: And there is Chapter 3 of "** _ **Prime's Champion**_ " **! Hope you guys enjoyed it, I had to work through a small case of writer's block to get this out, that and I was working on other stories, but here it is! Don't forget to drop a review to let me know what you think! See you in the next one!**

 **Arisentactica over and out**


	4. Chapter 4 teaser

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the delay but I have been having a major writers block _and_ computer issues! This is a teaser for chapter 4 to show that this story is still alive and kicking.**

* * *

 _Location: Near former Decepticon mine, near Monument, Colorado_

 _Time: 1 week, 6 hours after Jack came online_

When the ship landed, the area was dead silent, the only sound was the wind blowing faintly. The Autobots were still trying to process what happened and how Jack had driven off the Predacon. Arcee dropped onto the platform and looked at him.

"How did you do that?" she asked seriously, silently hoping that it wasn't what she thought it was.

Jack had no idea how, he just felt it in his spark.

"I… I don't know." he said hesitantly.

Arcee's feeling grew that it was his blessing, but with Optimus not there, she didn't think that it was her place to tell him. She grabbed his strut with a servo, making him look at her. She gestured to join up with the trio that were walking their way. Jack nodded and they walked off the platform and made their way the group.

"Good to see ya 'Cee!" Bulkhead called.

Arcee smiled, glad that Team Prime was starting to get back together.

* * *

 **A/N: The whole chapter will be out soon! In the mean time though, enjoy the teaser!**

 **Arisentactica over and out**


	5. Announcement

**Hey guys! As of 4/02/19, I am calling a hiatus on all my stories so that I can catch my breath and focus on consolidating my brain into making good stories that you guys deserve. I will be stopping updates for a bit so that I can go through my stories to check the grammar and to make sure that they are where I want them to be at before I plan out the rest of the plotlines so that I can keep my brain in check. I'm sorry to do this, but I feel it's needed in order for me to write stories that you all will enjoy.**

 **See you in the next update,**

 **Arisentactica over and out**


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